Pork and Shrimp Wonton Soup (馄饨)

In such a cool weather, a bowl of wonton soup will definitely warm me up and get me excited for the day. Practically, in my dictionary, wonton soup is great for any meals – breakfast, lunch, dinner or even afternoon snack. These tasty homemade wontons are packed up with pork, shrimp and many fresh ingredients that definitely will give you a ‘punch’ of savory and flavorful taste.

To make it a full meal, I usually like to add noodle and some veggies into my wonton soup. Feel free to add any toppings as you like – for example, fish ball, meatball, egg, and so on. Also, I like to pair it with my mom’s chili garlic sauce to warm my tummy even more, especially in the cold weather. However, the basic wonton soup, meaning just pork & shrimp wonton and the soup broth will already satisfy my taste bud. As an added plus, you can make a big batch of wontons as they can store up in a freezer for months. The frozen wontons will come in handy whenever you have a busy week in the future.

Tip: The uncooked wontons can be stored in the freezer. On a baking sheet, put each wonton with no contact to one another, covered them with plastic wrap and froze for about an hour or so. Make sure that there is no contact between each wonton as they can stick to each other. When the wontons are frozen, you can transfer them to a big Ziploc or container. At this point, they should not be sticky anymore.

Ingredients:

Wonton

• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 ½ lb ground shrimp – peeled and cleaned
• 1 ½ garlic bulb – minced
• 5 stalks green onion – thinly sliced
• 1-inch ginger – finely minced
• 3 tablespoons sesame oil
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 2 pack square wonton wrappers
• ½ cup water – to stick the wonton

Soup Broth

• 4 cups Asian-style chicken broth (if using western-style chicken broth, it’s recommended to add 1 tablespoon of thinly sliced ginger)
• ½ garlic bulb (about 5-6 cloves) – minced
• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• ½ teaspoon white pepper

Topping

• Udon noodle (or any kind of noodle – prepare according to package instruction)
• Spinach
• Finely chopped green onion

Directions:

WONTONS

• Roughly chopped the shrimp and put it in a large mixing bowl.
• Add ground pork, garlic, green onion, ginger, sesame oil, salt, and pepper to the mixing bowl. Mix it well.
• Let’s test the taste first before wrapping. Make a small ball from the mixture filling. Boil water in a pan under medium heat. Once the water boiled, put the small ball and let it cook for about 3 minutes or until it is cooked thoroughly. Take it out and taste it. If needed, you can add more salt and pepper to your liking.
• Take out one dumpling wrapper, place about half a tablespoon of the filling into the center.
• Brush the edge of all four sides of the wonton wrapper with water, using your fingertip.
• Lift up one corner and fold it to the opposite corner to make a triangle shape (see the above picture #1), push out any air around the filling and seal it.
• Brush a bit of water on the bottom corner, bring together the opposite corner and press together to seal it (see the above picture #2).
• The end result should look somewhat like a tiny boat (see the above picture #3).
• Repeat the process for each wonton until all the wrappers are gone.
• Place it in a plate and ensure that each wonton do not touch each other as they can stick to each other. You can freeze the wontons at this point.

SOUP BROTH

• Add all the soup broth ingredients into a deep pot. Then, bring it to boil under medium heat.

PUTTING TOGETHER

• In a boiling soup broth, toss several wontons and cook for 3-5 minutes.
• In each bowl, place the cooked noodle, topped with some spinach, then ladle some wontons and the soup onto each bowl. Garnish with some chopped green onion.
• Your wonton soups are ready. Enjoy it while it’s hot!